Apparatus for making artificial ice.



W. B. BULL. APPARATUS FOR MAKING ARTIFICIAL ICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25, 1909.

INVENTOR.

M ATTORNEY$ WITNESSES:

STATES PATEN WILLIAM B. BULL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO POLARICE MACHINE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A. CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING ARTIFICIAL ICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1910.

Application filed February 25, 1909. Serial No. 480,015.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. BULL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for MakingArtificial Ice, of whichthe following is a specification, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to the manufacture of artificial ice from rawwater, and has for its object to provide certain improvements in theapparatus illustrated and described in the application of Omar H.Jewell, Serial No. 438,373, filed June 18, 1908, and his application ofeven date herewith, Serial No. 480,012. According to the method employedin said Jewell apparatus the operation of freezing the raw water isconducted by applying a freezing medium to water contained in the upperportion of a suit-able receptacle, meanwhile maintaining in the lowerportion of said receptacle a zone of unfrozen water and causing thewater in the receptacle to circulate so that the air bubbles and theimpurities separated from the water by the operation of freezing do notadhere to the ice but are separated therefrom and the impuritiesultimately are collected in the unfrozen zone of water at the bottom ofthe receptacle. The circulation referred to is best secured byintroducing air under pressure into the receptacle through thenon-freezing zone of water, the air rising through the water and therebycausing it to circulate. In the use of this method, as the formation ofice progresses, there comes a time when the vertical channel through theforming ice is closed by the coming together of the inner faces of themass of ice. When this occurs the water above and below the closure isprevented from circulating, and if freezing is continued thereafter suchimpurities as it may contain above and below the closure are frozen intothe mass. Moreover, as is well known, water expands in freezing, so thatif at the commencement of the freezing operation the can is filled tothe level of the upper margin of the freezing zone, as freezingprogresses the water gradually rises in the can, thus increasing theproportion of water that is retained in the can above the closure madewhen the opposite masses of ice come together. Furthermore, by thus soonthereafter.

increasing the depth of water in the can, the pressure which must beovercome by the compressed air in entering the can at the bottom isincreased, and consequently unless the pressure of the airiscorrespondingly increased, the admission of air is correspondinglyreduced, if not stopped altogether, thus stopping the circulation of thewater. This is particularly objectionable where it is desired to makethe freezing operation automatic, and make it unnecessary to employ awatcher to take care of the apparatus during the freezing operation.Furthermore, it is highly desirable that means be provided forautomatically removing from the receptacle the impure water whichaccumulates in the non-freezing zone, and not only prevent it fromcontaminating the ice, but also from freezing up in the receptacle asmight be the case if it were not removed promptly upon the cessation ofcirculation, as might be the case if the apparatus were left unwatchedfor a long time.

The objects of my present invention are to maintain a constant level ofwater in the freezing receptacle, and thereby not only prevent theretention of an undue quantity of water therein after the closure of thepassage through the receptacle, as above de scribed, but also tomaintain the pressure upon the air inlet substantially constant; also toinsure the automatic removal of all, 01' substantially all, the impurewater from the can as soon as the circulation ceases, thus preservingthe ice in a pure condition and automatically stopping the freezingoperation when the closure of the passage through the receptacle isaccomplished, or I accomplish these objects as illustrated in thedrawings and as hereinafter described.

What I regard as new is set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view,showing my improved apparatus; Fig. 2 is an end view thereof; and Fig. 3is a section on line 33 of Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring to the drawings,-4 indicates the can, or other receptacle,which contains the water to be treated.

5 indicates a jacket, which surrounds the tank 4 intermediately, therebeing a portion 6 at the top and a portion 7 at the bottom beyond saidacket, as shown in Fig. 1. The

jacket 5 forms a chamber 8 adapted to contain ammonia, or other freezingagent, thereby subjecting the water in the upper portion of thereceptacle et to a freezing temperature.

9-10 indicate pipes, through which a circulation of the ammonia throughthe chamber 8 is effected.

11 indicates the non-freezing zone at the bottom of the tank 4.

12 indicates a pipe, which communicates with the bottom of thenon-freezing zone and is preferably provided with a cock 13 throughwhich the water may be drawn off.

14 indicates an equalizing-pipe, which rises from the pipe 12 and isprovided at its upper end with a nozzle 15 which projects over a trough16, or other receptacle. It will be noted that the upper level of thepipe 14 is coincident with that of the top of the freezing zone of thetank 4. Obviously, the pipe 14: controls the level of the water in thetank t and consequently of the top of the ice block.

17 indicates an air-pipe, which opens into the bottom of thenon-freezing zone, shown in Fig. l. 1

18 indicates an air-pump, or other device, for supplying compressed airto the pipe 17.

The receptacle or can being filled with water, the level of the waterobviously cannot rise higher than the point of discharge of theequalizing-pipe let. As the freezing progresses the water in turning toice expands and this would, without the equalizing-pipe, result in theformation of a cake of ice longer by some inches than the original depthof the water to be frozen. But, as stated, when the freezing processbegins and the water begins to expand the increased volume of water inthe can is taken care of by the equalizing-pipe which immediately beginsto drip or run in a more or less rapid stream, corresponding preciselyto the rapidity of the freezing process. The water level in the canthatis to say, the ice level ultimatelyis thus maintained as it ori 'inallywas throughout the entire process of reezing. An important benefitresulting from this is that the head of water upon the air pressure ismaintained absolutely constant, so that the air feed being establishedat the beginning of the process of freezing requires no attention oralteration throughout the process. A more important function, however,of the equalizingpipe is as follows: Then the freezing has progressed tosuch a point that there is no longer any open passage for the escapeupward through the ice cake of the air feed, the air pressure beingconstant, at once begins to expel through the equalizing-pipe all of theunfrozen Water at the bottom of the can and in the unfrozen zone whichlies above the outlet from the zone to the equalizing-pipe.

This makes the freezing process so automatic that it requires noattention upon the part of the operator until such time as meets hisconvenience as there is no longer any unfrozen water in the bottom ofthe can, or in the zone, to be frozen into the cake of ice marring itsappearance or interfering with the absolute purity which has thus farbeen maintained.

My improved apparatus dispenses with every form of working part, such asvalves or the like, which might become clogged or frozen or otherwiseinoperative, and the water thus removed from the water to be frozen isthrown away outside of the apparatus and does not remain where it isliable to be frozen up and thus the source of much annoyance.

That which I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is,

' 1. An apparatus for making ice, comprising a receptacle adapted tocontain the water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium' tothe upper portion only of said receptacle thereby leaving a zone ofunfrozen water in the lower portion thereof, and means for maintainingthe level of the water in said receptacle substantially constant asfreezing progresses.

2. An apparatus for making ice, comprising a receptacle adapted tocontain the water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium tothe upper portion only of said receptacle thereby leaving a zone ofunfrozen water in the lower portion thereof, and an overflow pipeconnected with said non-freezing zone and having an outlet substantiallyat the normal level of the water in said receptacle.

An appa 'atus for making ice, comprising a receptacle adapted to containthe water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium to theupper portion only of said receptacle thereby leaving a zone of unfrozenwater in the lower portion thereof, means for maintaining the level ofthe water in said receptacle substantially constant as freezingprogresses, and means for causing the water in said receptacle tocirculate as freezing progresses.

4. An apparatus for making ice, comprising a receptacle adapted tocontain the water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium tothe upper portion only of said receptacle thereby leaving a zone ofunfrozen water in the lower portion thereof, an overflow pipe connectedwith said nonfreezing zone and having an outlet substantially at thenormal level of the water in said receptacle, and means for causing thewater in said receptacle to circulate as freezing progresses.

5. An apparatus for making ice, comprising a receptacle adapted tocontain the water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium tothe upper portion only of said receptacle thereby leaving a zone ofunfrozen water in the lower portion thereof, means for maintaining thelevel of the water in said receptacle substantially constant as freezingprogresses, and means for introducing compressed air into the water tobe frozen through said non-freezing zone.

6. An apparatus for making ice, compris ing a receptacle adapted tocontain the water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium tothe upper portion only of said receptacle thereby leaving a zone ofunfrozen water in the lower portion thereof, an overflow pipe connectedwith said nonfreezing zone and having an outlet substantially at thenormal level of the water in said receptacle, and means for introducingcompressed air into the water to be frozen through said non-freezingzone.

7. An apparatus for making ice, comprising a receptacle adapted tocontain the water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium tothe upper portion only of said receptacle, the lower portion thereofbeing exposed to the air forming a non-freezing zone, means forintroducing compressed air into the water through said non-freezingzone, and means for maintaining substantially constant the level of thewater in said receptacle.

8. An apparatus for making ice, comprising a receptacle adapted tocontain the Water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium tothe upper portion only of said receptacle, the lower portion thereofbeing exposed to the air forming a non-freezing &

zone, means for introducing compressed air into the water through saidnon-freezing zone, and an equalizing pipe connected with saidnon-freezing zone and having a discharge opening at substantially thenormal level of the water in said receptacle.

9. An apparatus for making ice, co1nprising a receptacle adapted tocontain the water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium tothe water in the upper portion only of said receptacle, and means formaintaining the level of the water in said receptacle substantiallyconstant as freezing progresses.

10. An apparatus for making ice, comprising a receptacle adapted tocontain the water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium tothe Water in the upper portion only of said receptacle, means formaintaining the level of the water in said receptacle substantiallyconstant as freezing progresses, and means for causing the water in saidreceptacle to circulate as freezing progresses.

11. An apparatus for making ice, comprising a receptacle adapted tocontain the water to be frozen, means for applying a freezing medium tosaid receptacle, and an equalizing pipe connected with the lower portionof said receptacle and having a discharge opening at substantially thenormal level of the water therein.

WILLIAM B. BULL.

Witnesses:

JOHN L. JACKSON, MINNIE A. HUNTER.

